THE PRESIDENT: Thank you all very much. Thanks a lot for coming
out tonight. So I'm walking up on the stage, and Saxby says, if you
keep it short, we might be able to get a round of golf in. (Laughter.)

I want to thank you all for being here. I came without my
wife, unfortunately.

AUDIENCE MEMBERS: Aaahh.

THE PRESIDENT: I know it. There's a lot of good, discerning
people out here in the crowd who understand who the real star of our
family is. She was in Chattanooga today working. (Applause.)
You drew the short straw. (Laughter.) But I can't tell you how proud
I am of the job she is doing. She is a fabulous First Lady for our
country -- (applause) -- and she sends her best and her thanks.

I'm standing up on the stage here with Sonny and Saxby, reminding
me what it means to offer a hopeful and optimistic vision, because
that's precisely what we did last fall. In this state, we said if you
elect these good people, you'll get good government for everybody.
And thanks to your hard work and your efforts, you elected the first
Republican Governor in 130 years. (Applause.) And he's doing the job
you expect him to do. He's a straight shooter. He does in office what
he said he would do.

And that's the same with Saxby. I've got no stronger ally in
the United States Senate than Saxby Chambliss, and I want to thank you
all for sending him. (Applause.)

And thanks to your help, starting tonight, we're going to build
on what you did last fall and deliver a strong nationwide victory
next fall. (Applause.) And I'm getting loosened up. (Laughter.)
I'm getting ready, but I'm going to have to count on you all to
energize the grassroots, to make the phone calls, to put the
signs in the yard, and to spread our message, which is a positive and
hopeful message for every single citizen who lives in this country.

The political season will come in its own time. But right now, I
am focused on the people's business in Washington, D.C. We've got a
lot on the agenda. We've got a lot to do before the political
season. But I can assure you that we will keep earning the confidence
of Americans by keeping this nation secure, and strong, and prosperous,
and free. (Applause.)

Along with Sonny, there's a lot of state officials here, and I
want to thank you all for coming. And along with Saxby came a --
members of one of the finest Congressional delegations in
Washington, D.C: Congressman Jack Kingston, Johnny Isakson, Matt
Collins, Charley Norwood, Max Burns and John Linder, and I want
to thank you all for coming. (Applause.) I appreciate you being
here.

I want to thank my close friend, Mercer Reynolds -- (applause)
-- for agreeing to be the national finance chairman of the
Bush-Cheney campaign. (Applause.) I want to thank Jamie --
that would be Jamie Reynolds -- for hosting this event tonight.
I want to thank all the co-chairmen who have helped. I want to thank
Harold Reynolds. I want to thank my friend, Fred Cooper. But most
of all, I want to thank you all. You put the wind at my back.
(Applause.) You give me a lot of confidence to take on the task
ahead. (Applause.) And I appreciate you coming.

In the last two-and-a-half years, our nation has acted decisively
to confront great challenges. I came to the office of the presidency
to solve problems instead of passing them on to other
Presidents or other generations. (Applause.) I came to seize
opportunities instead of letting them slip away.

We are meeting the tests of our time. Terrorists declared war on
the United States of America, and war is what they got. (Applause.)
We have captured or killed many key al Qaeda leaders, and the rest
of them know we're on their trail. In Afghanistan and in Iraq, we
gave ultimatums to terror regimes. Those regimes chose defiance
and those regimes are no more. (Applause.) Fifty million people in
those two countries once lived under tyranny and now they live in
freedom. (Applause.)

Two-and-a-half years ago, our military was not receiving
the resources it needed, and morale was beginning to suffer. We've
increased the defense budget to prepare for the threats of a new
era. And today no one in the world can question the skill and the
strength and the spirit of the United States military. (Applause.)

Two-and-a-half years ago we inherited an economy in recession.
Then the attacks on our country occurred, and then scandals in
corporate America and war affected the people's confidence. But we
acted. We passed tough new laws to hold corporate criminals to
account. And to get the economy going again we have twice led the
United States Congress to pass historic tax relief for the American
people. (Applause.)

Here's what we believe and here's what we know: when Americans
have more take-home pay to spend, to save and to invest, the whole
economy goes, and people can find work. (Applause.)

We understand who's money we spend in Washington, D.C. It's not
the government's money; it's the people's money. (Applause.)
And we're returning more money to people who are trying to raise
their families. We're reducing taxes on dividends and capital
gains to encourage investment. We're giving small businesses
incentives to expand to hire new people. With all these actions, we
are laying the foundation for greater prosperity and more jobs all
across America so every person, every single person in this
country, can have the chance to live the American Dream. (Applause.)

Two-and-a-half years ago, there was a lot of talk about
education reform, but there wasn't much action. So I called
for, and Congress passed, the No Child Left Behind Act. With a solid
bipartisan majority, we delivered the most dramatic education
reforms in a generation. We're bringing high standards and strong
accountability measures to every public school in America. Every child
can learn the basics of reading and math.

And we believe every school should teach those basics. We
are challenging the soft bigotry of low expectations in American
schools. (Applause.) The days of excuse making are over. And now
we can expect results in every single classroom so that not one child
in America is left behind. (Applause.)

We reorganized the government and created the Department of
Homeland Security to safeguard the borders and ports and to protect
the American people. We passed trade promotion authority to open
up new markets for America's farmers and ranchers and
manufacturers. We passed a budget agreement that is helping to
maintain spending discipline in Washington, D.C. (Applause.)

On issue after issue, this administration has acted on principle,
has kept its word, and has made progress for the American people.
And the United States Congress has shared in these achievements, and
I appreciate the hard work of the members of the United States
Congress. We will continue to work together. We will continue to
work to change the tone in Washington, D.C. by focusing on the
people's business, by focusing on results.

And that's the nature of the people I've asked to serve America in
my administration, people who are willing to set aside all the
partisan bickering, people who are willing to serve the American
people. I've put together a fabulous team. We've had no greater
Vice President in the United States than Richard B. Cheney.
(Applause.) Although my mother may have a different view. (Laughter.)

In two-and-a-half years, we have come far, two-and-a-half
years, we've come a long way. But our work is only beginning. We
have great goals worthy of a great nation. First, America is
committed to expanding the realm of freedom and peace for our own
security and for the benefit of the world. And second, in our own
country, we must work for a society of prosperity and compassion so
that every citizen has a chance to work and to succeed, and to realize
the great promise of America.

It has never been more clear that the future of freedom and
peace depend on the actions of America. This nation is freedom's
home, and freedom's defender. We welcome this charge of history, and
we are keeping it.

On the war on terror, continues -- (applause) -- the war
on terror continues, the enemies of freedom are not idle, and neither
are we. This country will not rest; we will not tire; and we will
not stop until this danger to civilization is removed. (Applause.)

Yet our national interest involves more than eliminating
aggressive threats to our safety. Our greatest security comes from
the advance of human liberty, because free nations do not support
terror; free nations do not attack their neighbors; free nations do
not threaten the world with weapons of mass terror. Americans believe
that freedom is the deepest need and hope of every human heart. And we
believe that freedom is the right of every person, and the future of
every nation. (Applause.)

America also understands that unprecedented influence
brings tremendous responsibilities. We have duties in the world. And
when we see disease, and starvation, and hopeless poverty, we
will not turn away. (Applause.) On the continent of Africa,
America is now committed to bringing the healing power of medicine
to millions of men, and women, and children now suffering with AIDS.
This great land is leading the world in important work of human
rescue. (Applause.)

I will continue to work on our economy until anybody who wants
to work and is not working today can find a job. (Applause.) And we
have a duty at home to keep our commitment to America's seniors, by
strengthening and modernizing Medicare so that they have more choices
and better access to prescription drugs.

The time has arrived for the United States Congress to pass
Medicare reform. (Applause.) And that reform must give our seniors
good options that meet their needs. Members of Congress and their
staffs currently get choice of health care plans. And seniors ought
to have the same kind of choices, including the choice to keep their
Medicare coverage the way it is. If choice is good for the members of
the United States Congress, it is good for America's seniors.
(Applause.)

And for the sake of our health care system, we need to cut down
on frivilous lawsuits which increase the cost of medicine.
(Applause.) People who have been harmed by a doctor deserve their
day in court. Yet the system should not reward lawyers who are
simply fishing for a rich settlement. (Applause.)

Because frivilous lawsuits drive up the cost of health care,
medical liability is a national problem and it requires a
national solution. (Applause.) No one has ever been healed by a
frivilous lawsuit. We need medical liability reform now. (Applause.)

I have a responsibility to make sure the judicial system runs
well and I have met that duty. I have nominated superb men and
women to the federal courts, people who will interpret the law, not
legislate from the bench. (Applause.) Some members of the United
States Senate are trying to keep my nominees off the bench by
blocking up or down votes. Every judicial nominee deserves a
fair hearing and an up or down vote on the Senate floor. It is
time for some of the members of the United States Senate to stop
playing politics with American justice. (Applause.)

The Congress needs to pass a comprehensive energy plan. Our
nation must promote energy efficiency and conservation,
develop cleaner technology. But we need to produce more energy
at home. We need to produce more natural gas. (Applause.) For the
sake of economic security and for the sake of national security, we
must make America less dependent on foreign sources of energy.
(Applause.)

Our strong and prosperous nation must also be a compassionate
nation. I will continue to advance our agenda of compassionate
conservatism, applying the best and most innovative ideas to the
tasks of helping our fellow citizens in need. There are still
millions of men and women who want to end their dependency on
government and become independent through hard work. We must build
on the success of welfare reform to bring work and dignity into the
lives of more of our fellow citizens. Congress should complete the
citizen service act so that more Americans can serve their
communities and their country. And both houses should finally
reach agreement on my faith-based initiative to support the armies of
compassion that are mentoring children and caring for the homeless
and offering hope to the addicted. (Applause.)

A compassionate society must promote opportunity for all,
including the independence and dignity that come from ownership. This
administration will constantly strive to promote an ownership society
in America. We want more people owning their home. We want people to
own their own retirement accounts. We want more small businesses
owners in America. We want people to have control and own their
own health care plan. (Applause.) We understand that when a person
owns something, he or she has a vital stake in the future of this
country.

In a compassionate society, people respect one another, and
take responsibility for the decisions they make. We're changing the
culture of America from one that has said, if it feels good, do it,
and if you've got a problem, blame somebody else, to a culture in which
each of us understand we're responsible for the decisions we make
in life -- (applause) -- that each of us are responsible -- - that
if you're fortunate enough to be a mother or father, you're
responsible for the well-being of that child. (Applause.) And if
you're griping about the quality of education in the community in
which you live, you're responsible for doing something about it.
(Applause.)

A responsibility society says to CEO America, loud and clear,
you're responsible to your shareholders, and you're responsible to your
employees. (Applause.) And in our responsibility society, each of us
are responsible for loving our neighbor, just like we'd like to
be loved ourselves. (Applause.)

We can see the culture of service and responsibility growing
around us. I stared what I call the USA Freedom Corps to encourage
Americans to extend a compassionate hand to a neighbor in need, and
the response has been strong, just like the response is strong in
America for faith-based charities that bring hope and healing to a
fellow citizen.

Policeman and fire fighters, people who wear our country's
uniform, are reminding us what it means to sacrifice for something
greater than yourself. And once again, the children of America believe
in heros because they see them everyday.

In these challenging times, the world has seen the resolve
and courage of America. And I've been privileged to see the
compassion and character of the American people. All the tests of the
last two-and-a-half years have come to the right nation. We're a
strong country, and we use our strength to defend the peace. We're an
optimistic country, confident in ourselves, and in ideals bigger than
ourselves.

Abroad, we seek to lift whole nations by spreading freedom. At
home, we seek to lift up lives by spreading opportunity to every
corner of America. This is the work that history has set before us.
We welcome it. And we know that for our country, and for our
cause, the best days lie ahead.

May God bless you all, and may God bless America. Thank
you. (Applause.)